So I got a Core box and want to expand the game to be able to play all factions and also multiplayer for casual games. What order should I get them in if I buy 1-3 deluxe expansions? Should I consider any smaller packs?

Would love to avoid buying doubles if necessary. Looking for a quick, flavorful Star Wars fix.

People hate on Balance of the Force, but I think it's great if you're at allinterested in multiplayer. I think if I were you I'd start with one Edge of Darkness and one Balance of the Force and see how you like it.

I think playing with decks of single objectives will be a ton of fun for a while, buteventually you'll crave more strategy with deck-customization. The next step, then, would be to get your second core and second Edge of Darkness.

I [I]think[i] that a good goal would be to buy all the deluxes eventually, but I stopped at Between the Shadows so I'm not sure what kind of play experience you get when you play those Jedi and Scum cards against the more recent deluxes.

My struggle is that if you jump into the 3 deluxes that focus on faction pairs, you will get a bunch of duplicate objectives compared to your singlesfrom one core. I'm not sure if that would bother you, but it would bother me, which is why I suggested starting with Edge of Darkness and Balance of the Force.

The issue with balance of the Force is twofold. If you're not playing multiplayer you're paying $30 for 36 cards. The asymmetrical multiplayer decks are really cool, but they haven't kept pace with the game's growing card pool (sadly.) Finally, there are now a lot more cards, in game, that build into multiplayer (2v2 or 3v3) matches, then there were when BotF released.

That said, if your intended cardpool is just Core and Edge of Darkness, then BotF isn't a bad purchase if you have three or four players on a regular basis.

Nils_K wrote:

So I got a Core box and want to expand the game to be able to play all factions and also multiplayer for casual games. What order should I get them in if I buy 1-3 deluxe expansions? Should I consider any smaller packs?

Would love to avoid buying doubles if necessary. Looking for a quick, flavorful Star Wars fix.

Generally speaking the second copy of Core and Edge of Darkness are to smooth out the base game. Those are the only things you'd ever purchase multiple copies of in this LCG. It's not as necessary as it once was, but it is still the fastest way to put two copies of the main Star Wars characters in your deck (meaning you'll have more reliable access to them in game.)

Generally when you're grabbing the smaller packs, it's important to understand those are ordered in "cycles" of six packs each. So, usually you'll want to grab an entire cycle, if you can. These have distinct themes, like The Battle of Hoth, Force Users, Pilots and Starfighters, and so on. The three faction focused deluxe sets also form a single larger meta-set, so that's another consideration. It all depends on what you want specifically.

So I got a Core box and want to expand the game to be able to play all factions and also multiplayer for casual games. What order should I get them in if I buy 1-3 deluxe expansions? Should I consider any smaller packs?

Would love to avoid buying doubles if necessary. Looking for a quick, flavorful Star Wars fix.

If you want to avoid buying doubles then Edge of Darkness is really not the right deluxe for you.

Hands down the deluxe with the most played cards is Imperial Entanglements, second is probably Galactic Ambitions and third is Between the Shadows.

Edge of Darkness is the main expansion for the rest of the factions, in my opinion. An extra core and EoD gives you six factions and nice, consistent decks. Just core+EoD gives you every faction, pre-Entanglements imperial domination.

I'm all about theme decks, experimenting, and great characters. I own most of the early to mid expansions, and a few selective later ones.

If you are looking at 1-3 deluxe expansions to go with your core, and you are intent on getting usable decks for all factions, and you have strong interest in multiplayer, then this is my thinking:

Edge of Darkness: Why I rank this here: -Variety: you get 132 cards, most of which are new. At the current Amazon Prime cost (US) of $22.29, that's a great deal. -Faction completion: you can now complete a Scum & Villainy deck and a Smugglers & Spies deck. -Icons included: Lando, Chewy, Millenium Falcon, Lobot, Bail Organa (in one of the few prequel nods), Jabba, Bib Fortuna, Slave I, Sarlaac, Banthas, Greedo, Bossk, Jawas, Sandpeople.-Units you may not know but are great: Sleuth Scouts.Warning: you only get 1 copy of each objective set, so your decks will not be as consistent or predictable.

BOTTOM LINE: For what you are asking for, IF YOU ONLY GET ONE, get this one.

Imperial EntanglementsWhy I rank it here:-Phenomenal Imperial pods. I mean like, fun and powerful. The Jedi and Sith only get one new type of pod but they are also solid.-More Smugglers: this would allow you to complete that faction, should you get IE instead of EoD.-Decent cast: Lando, Chewy, Rancor, young(er) Tarkin. Less variety, but more consistancy: Two of each pod. 84 cards x 2.Cost: A bit more pricy at $29.95 on Amazon Prime.

BOTTOM LINE: There's a reason this one is popular, particularly among the competitive players: fun, strong pods. But if you only got this one, you wouldn't be able to complete a Scum deck. However, if you pass on Edge of Darkness, but pick up BOTH Imperial Entanglements and Between the Shadows, you'll have plenty for all six factions, consistent decks and have some nice extra variety: this may be a superior route if you are for sure getting two deluxe expansions, and not one.

Between the Shadows. Focus: Jedi and Scum. Solid Jedi stuff. The Boba Fett in this one is better than the core, but much of the Scum is 'Legends' kind of stuff.

Balance of the ForceWhy I rank this here: -You brought up multiplayer. While you do not need this pack to play multiplayer, this one gives you TWO challenge decks which takes multiplayer play to another level in 1 vs 2 or 1 vs 3. If multiplayer wasn't what you are after, then this falls greatly below most others because of the lack of great cards besides the challenge decks (though those pods are decent).Cost: $27.77 on Amazon Prime. Must be that sweet Death Star II dial.

BOTTOM LINE: Pass on this if you are not *really* serious about multiplayer. Also note that you can still play multiplayer without it (2 vs 2). I play this game 95%+ as 1 vs 1, so I normally wouldn't rank it as high. So Make sure you like the multiplayer format first--then, make sure you are interested in the challenge decks. If your answer is yes to both of these multiplayer questions, then this would be a solid second pick up after Edge.

The rest. Galactic Ambitions: Rebel and a Sith. This is pretty good cost wise, but I don't use this one as much as other packs, especially those rebels. Force Packs: If I had to single out a few, I might highlight Battle of Hoth (AT-ATs and snowspeeders), Join Us or Die (Yoda in beast mode), Allies of Necessity (Rogue One peeps plus variant faction cards), Technological Terror (Death Star), Knowledge and Defense (Along the Gamow Run, a nice Smuggler pod, and Moldy Crow) and Assault on Echo Base (Veers and a personal Scum favorite: Lucrative Contract.

The Boba Fett in this one is better than the core, but much of the Scum is 'Legends' kind of stuff.

This actually is one of the main draws of the LCG. If you hate references to Lucas canon EU (and a few to Dis-canon EU in more recent packs), then you're going to find a lot of stuff outside of the core set to be disappointing.

Thanks for this nice overview. I have been gifted the core box last year and did not had a chance to play it yet (we are focused on Arkham Horror) and as the game has now been announced as completed I wanted to purchase some extensions to be able to enjoy it when the day comes before them going out of print.I fully trust FFG that the core box is nice but not enough, so I have decided to purchase two deluxes boxes.